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PlayOwl

Science · Grade 7

Earth Resources, Impacts and Engineering Choices

Learners explain why oil, coal, metal ores and groundwater are found in some places and not others, using the geologic processes that formed and concentrated them. They classify resources as renewable or non-renewable, compare rates of use with rates of replacement, and calculate total impact as per-person use × population. They then use weighted decision matrices to compare solutions and plan, monitor and improve a design that reduces a human impact.

  • 5 lessons
  • About 120 minutes
  • Earth resources, impacts and choices check: 11 questions
  • Ways to answer: choose an answer, draw a graph, highlight a text, match pairs, type a number and put in order
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What learners will discover

  • Explain, using evidence, how past and present geologic processes cause mineral, fossil-fuel and groundwater resources to be unevenly distributed.
  • Classify resources as renewable or non-renewable on human timescales, and use rates of use and replacement to judge whether a resource is being used sustainably.
  • Use total impact = per-person use × population to calculate and compare impacts, and explain how changes in population and per-person consumption affect Earth's systems.
  • Use a weighted decision matrix, after checking constraints, to evaluate competing design solutions.
  • Plan a way to monitor and reduce a human impact, and use before-and-after data to judge whether a design meets its criteria.

Lessons

  1. Why resources are where they are 9 steps5 practiceabout 24 min
  2. Renewable, non-renewable and rates of use 8 steps5 practiceabout 22 min
  3. Impact = per-person use × population 8 steps5 practiceabout 24 min
  4. Weighted decision matrices 8 steps5 practiceabout 26 min
  5. Designing to reduce an impact 7 steps4 practiceabout 22 min
  6. Earth resources, impacts and choices check 11 questions at the end

Keep exploring

Games to practice with

  • Bridge LabBuild a bridge from beams, brace it with triangles, and stay on budget.
  • Circuit Workshop 3DWire up batteries, bulbs and switches on a 3D workbench.
  • River MysterySomething changed the river. Sample sites with a limited budget, follow the evidence and find where the change begins.

More 7th grade science

Guide for grown-ups